The Forbes study focused on universities that confer a high percentage of degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (known colloquially as STEM).

Producing more graduates with STEM degrees is an important goal for any college, reporter Natalie Doss wrote. The majors with the highest starting and mid-career salaries are nearly all STEM degrees, according to Payscale.com's 2010-2011 College Salary Report.

“So far higher education hasn't done a good job of helping two big groups succeed in STEM: women and members of racial or ethnic minorities,” Doss wrote for Forbes. “A report from the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering showed that only 12.5 percent of the engineering bachelor's degrees awarded in 2006 went to underrepresented minorities, including blacks, Hispanics and American Indians.”

Some U.S. universities are successfully graduating women and minorities with STEM degrees. Doss and Forbes set out to determine the schools that are getting it right.

The student excluded schools where the student body is almost entirely female or minority students.

The Forbes ranking of the best colleges for minorities in STEM compared blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians (groups typically underrepresented in STEM) to whites and Asians (groups typically well-represented in STEM).

“STEM careers are great careers; we know that, and we get that message across to them [the students],” said Dr. Thomas Mans, professor of social science and director of college assessment at Saint Mary’s College in Minnesota. “The campus environment is really supportive. There is this sense that part of our mission is to find kids with potential and to make it work for them when it may not have worked for them somewhere else.”

Forbes’ Top 20 Universities – Minority Opportunities1 Saint Mary's University of Minnesota2 Westmont College3 Colorado College4 Christopher Newport University5 University of Colorado Denver6 St Mary's College of Maryland7 Texas Tech University8 University of Massachusetts-Lowell9 Tulane University of Louisiana10 Georgia Southern University11 Louisiana State University12 Florida Institute of Technology13 New Mexico State University14 Texas A & M University15 California State University-Chico16 Davidson College17 University of Florida18 Massachusetts Institute of Technology19 University of Miami20 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology